Lost In Translation

Book Notes: Tanizaki, McEwan, & Welsh

I recently read The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi and Arrowroot by Junichiro Tanizaki. Musashi was typical Tanizaki, an arresting tale of sexual obsession: a boy, a girl, and a severed head with no nose. Arrowroot was much shorter and didn't make much of an impression on me. I am trying to read all Tanizaki?s works in English and then I'll start writing a paper on one of his many themes as my research project for next year.

After that I read The Child In Time by Ian McEwan. It was well written and researched novel, with great psychological insights into the main characters. But I didn't like it as much as some of his other books like Atonement, Black Dogs, or Amsterdam. That being said, I still think it was worth reading, because McEwan is a talented writer.

I am currently reading Filth by Irvine Welsh, which is his least impressive book to date. The main character is completely degenerate and unlikable. Welsh is also trying to be experimental by overlapping a monologue by a tapeworm transposed OVER the regular text, so you can't read it. It comes across as annoying and showy, rather than clever. I highly recommend Trainspotting, Glue, and Porno, in that order, all three are great reads.

Lake Ashi

This is a field of wheat that we saw on the way to Lake Ashi.

Swan paddle boats on Lake Ashi.

A replica tourist boat.

Our speedboat tour driver.

A shinto gate in the water on the lake.

You can just barely make out Mt. Fuji in the background.

It took forever to get out of Tokyo, and longer to get back in. Shun's Dad's car has a satelite navigational system that also works as a TV. He didn't want to miss the Japanese World Series between the Daei Hawks and Hashin Tigers.

Japanese cliches

This is the last entry in Seth Davidson's journal for Slate. It reminded me that there was a big earthquake on Wednesday and it was a little longer and stronger than usual I didn't even really stop my lesson (but I did acknowledge it was taking place and taught them the English word for jishin), but you really do get used to it, it takes a lot to get you worried after living here so long.

Hakone

My friend Shun invited me, and another friend to stay at his friend's house in Hakone, a resort area in the mountains about two hours from Tokyo (by train I suppose-it took much longer by car). I had been there once before when my friend Pat Okell came to visit a few years ago. That time we went to an onsen (hot spring) and the open air sculpture Museum, which also has a Picasso museum as well. Mimi and Lue have an amazing weekend retreat, it is three stories, has a deck, sleeps up to 14, and has hot spring water pumped into the bath.

This is the main living room/kitchen on the third floor and acces to the deck where they often BBQ.

This is the view of the mountains from the deck.

Some more of nature's beauty visable from the deck.

Here's the bath with natural hot sping water pumped into the house. Apparently you can cook an egg int he water ad the minerlas inthe water turn the eggshell black.

This is Lue and Mimi. Lue is Chinese/Singaporean and has lived in the states for 10 years while studying at MIT and Princeton. He is an engineer by trianing, but trianed himself to work in finance, now he is in charge of risk management for a branch of GE that was just bought by AIG. Mimi used to be an administrator at Shun's English preperation school for studying abroad. It turns out that she studied for two years at Eastern Washngton University in Cheney, just outside my hometown, Spokane. They ahve been married for 11 years.

Lue's Jaguar, obviously he's in a different tax bracket than myself.

We ate yakiniku (Koren BBQ), Shun got some Korean style marinated beef from his friend's butcher shop. I think there was some consdensasion on the lens while shooting this photo, anyway, on the left is "DenDen" Shun's Philapino co-worker, Mimi, Lue and Shun.

We went to Lake Ashi earlier in the afternoon today, but I'll post those photos later in another entry.

Elvis Costello: Crooner or Rocker

I haven't decided whether or not to get the new Elvis Costello album North. It has gotten a rave from Slate, and another writer has disparaged Elvis' transmorgification into a crooner. Anyone heard it yet?

Capsule Hotels

Seth Davidson's new entry is on the capsule hotels in Tokyo. I haven't slept in one, but my friends used to sleep in one in Ueno and liked the commual bath there where he could rub elbows with yakuza. I'm in no hurry to sleep in one either, to be honest. Love hotels on the other hand...

Inane Protocol

I have another commetary on Seth Davidson's post in Slate about protocol. It is true that the Japnese are meishi (business card) crazy, which reminds me I need to get some new ones made up. I have stacks of them at home I was thinking of doing an art project and putting them on a wall, there would be several duplicates, people with three different ones from changing jobs, and a mulititude of professions.

He also touches on one of the inane aspects of the business culture that dictates that appearances are all important. If you get to work 10 minutes early and stay as long as the boss you are considered a great worker, even if you just read the paper, drank green tea and surfed the internet for porn. Productivity seems unimportant as most peope try to avoid taking responsibility for anything, lest they be blamed for something that goes wrong.

Another point he touches on is the difficulty of finding anythign in Tokyo. I usually need to research the location of a party, new bar, or restaurant before setting out, since there are few streets with names, furthermore Tokyo is a laybrinth. A fax machine and maps are extremely useful and important.

Manga

Seth Davidson, a writer for Slate and author of the piece on eating whale, tackles the world of animation and comics (manga) in his latest post in a series called "Japan On One Cliche A Day."

I think the appeal of comics and animation comes from the visual tradition in Japanese culture seen through wood block prints and the visual nature of the Chinese characters used in the written language. There?s no denying that the comics are violent and prominently feature young girls in rape fantasies and more. These types of comics are regularly read in trains as well. There are legions of "otaku" (nerds who obsess over computers/and or comics), which prefer these fantasy cartoon women, because they are perfect and devoid of defects. It has been said that the Japanese make a bigger distinction between reality and fantasy (see critics like Ian Buruma, Donald Richie and Nicholas Bornoff), but there?s no denying the objectification of young girls in this society, hence "enjo kosai" and the victimization of the four young girls who were recently kidnapped. However, on the innocent side there is also an obsession with all that is "kawaii" (cute) or what I like to call the "culture of kawaii." It turns out that Toyo University has a licensing agreement with Moomin, a Japanese cartoon character, used to attract attention from high school students.

Haka Continued

I had a friend requesting more information about funerals/burials in Japan, so I found this link. In Buddhist cultures people are usually cremated. It is traditonal to visit the grave of the departed on odd years I believe, but I guess it has to do with the Buddhist calendar.

Eating Whale

Came across this account in Slate:

If you visit Japan, you will no doubt come home with your own wacky food stories. Here's mine:

I ate whale today. Wacky!

I haven't eaten whale yet, but unlike this author I have eaten horse sashimi and for the record it tastes like roast beef.